Continually in the backrooms of the power centers of the nations on
this planet are information hubs stocked with people whose job it is to
be "star gazers". These "star gazers" are not astrologers as such;
rather, they have their own more sophisticated methods of doing the same
thing, more or less, which is they are in the business of predictions.
Their job is to anticipate trends and movements in the marketplace, in
other governments, in changing weather patterns and how that might
effect crop cycles, in potential mega corporate mergers, in all forms of
the brokerage of power. Financial and political power centers love
this futuristic data. It converts to potential hedge fund activity,
potential political moves, and potential mergers - in short, the
management of potential power in all its expressions.

I recall reading a book way back when entitled, "A Global Report
Until the Year 2000", that was initiated by then President Jimmy Carter,
which was filled with exactly this type of data -- predictions and
anticipations of potential major changes in the theater of operations of
Planet Earth. One of the conclusions that struck me in this book that I
read decades ago related to the potential causes that might lead to
global conflict: water rights. For all the many issues that faced the
world then, and there were many, still, by comparison, terrorism had yet
to come into its own and world markets had yet to become as fragile as
my mother's crystal. Nonetheless, one of the central themes of this
report was that by the end of the 20th Century, the most likely cause of
a global conflict would be over a lack of fresh water -- an impending
ecological disaster.

As I look over the past decade of America's history, without a doubt
four of the most formative events that the "star gazers" did not see
coming, no matter how sophisticated their mathematical formulas and
calculations of probabilities and possibilities, were: 9/11, Hurricane
Katrina, the subprime mortgage disaster, and now the oil catastrophe in
the Gulf of Mexico. Of these four, two are environmental, which is to
say, enterprises of Mother Nature. Obviously, the Gulf oil leak is the
result of the carelessness of human technology brought about by
deregulated safety procedures, just as the devastation brought about by
Katrina was far greater than it had to be because of the carelessness of
not repairing levees that should have been updated. But the lack of
preparedness for a major catastrophe is itself a statement of how
British Petroleum and other oil companies view environmental disasters:
it's not the environment that is at risk but the loss of oil dollars.
The environment for hardcore oil profiteers is just a place from which
to "drill, baby, drill." It's not an alive ecosystem of which they,
also, are an integral part.

- Advertisement -

Had BP really valued and respected the environment, it would have
prepared far more safe guards on its oil platform, and at the very
least, disaster plans that parallel every action they undertake in
drilling. Had the government cared about the environment, regulations
demanding better safety procedures would have been in place. One could
say, perhaps, that this is a type of cooperative disaster - one that was
initiated by the carelessness of business and government but it's
Mother Nature that is revealing to everyone what the cost to everyone
and everything is when her eco-system is so blatantly treated with
disrespect.

But this disaster does not just reveal how BP interacts with nature.
I suspect that BP is no different than any other oil company. They
are, after all, in the business of sucking the oil out of the earth at
any cost -- and now cost us all it will. Anticipating the actual cost
of this disaster is virtually impossible because there is no end in
sight to this leak. And now the brain trusts that got us into this
disaster have even suggested the use of nuclear weapons to get us out -
nuke the leak. Right. Hmm. Seems to me that would be the same as a
physician offering to shoot the cancer growing in a patient because the
chemo wasn't working as planned. Brilliant, BP...

Hurricane season has yet to begin and who knows how many hurricanes
the Gulf will have, how intense they will be, and how far the winds and
rain will distribute the toxic oil that now covers the once gorgeous
waters of the inland areas around the Gulf. If we follow this latest
hair brained plan, not only will we have to anticipate oil covering
miles and miles of inland territory; now we will also have to worry
about water contaminated with nuclear waste. This is a genius solution
in the making. Even if they tossed out this suggestion by now, the fact
that it would even be placed on the table for consideration is a
measure of their detachment from "ecological reality", not to mention
their responsibilities as a company that drills for oil in gulf waters.

- Advertisement -

Then there's the loss of sea life which is yet another incalculable
figure. And of course, we have the drop in value to coastal property
and a dramatic drop in the coastal vacation industry. And I haven't
even mentioned the fishing industry - do I even have to? The Gulf is
headed toward becoming a mortuary. And finally, we can only wait to see
how sick the people will become who are now forced to breath the fumes
from all of this unrefined oil, with all its toxins and gas.

It was only a matter of time before the Republican's began to call
this "Obama's Katrina". That's not surprising. While Obama is hardly
responsible for the loose regulations that allowed for the possibility
of accidents on oil rigs, he is the President in the hot seat. It's now
up to him to respond to this situation both in terms of demanding the
most out of BP and future legislation that insures such a disaster can
never happen again. He is also no doubt aware that Katrina was indeed a
turning point for Bush in that respect for his administration -- what
little there was left to respect by the time Katrina hit -- took a sharp
nose dive, never to repair itself.

Further, while the nation refused to evaluate Bush's incompetence as a
war leader, his inability to lead when it came to a natural disaster
crisis on the home front was just too obvious. Staring at the ruins of
New Orleans from his safe, clean little airplane, like a little boy on a
carnival ride, revealed to all Americans that this former President
should never have been allowed near the White House except as a tourist.
While he knew how to start a crisis, he had no idea how to assist in a
crisis unless he could bomb it, threaten it, or misspell it.

In the end, the legacy of George Bush was greatly influence by the
disasters of war and the power of Mother Nature. Even Obama must
realize that like the presidency of George Bush, this crisis has the
potential of becoming a political game changer for him if a successful
outcome is too long in coming or worse, nowhere to be found. It's just
that one extra disaster added to a list of disasters breaking the back
of America that has what it takes to reshape the destiny of this
president, and thus this nation.

If any of those hired "star gazers" had any real vision at this
point, they would get the picture that Mother Nature has what it takes
to swing an election, to influence politics, to do great damage to the
economy, and to call the shots on what a country does next in terms of
its own survival. Mother Nature is not some passive hunk of earth to be
dynamited for resources and left to repair itself for the next round.
The Katrina disaster revealed that Mother Earth has enough clout to
influence a national election and for that reason alone, even the most
ecologically heathen of politicians who cannot imagine that global
warming is anything but hype should yield to the fear of losing votes.
Let's face it: Mother Nature has politically come of age.

We are only at the beginning of this Gulf oil crisis -- just the
beginning. If the idiots who suggested that the underwater leak be
nuked in order to seal it actually get their way, the crisis will
catapult to a mega-disaster and who knows how long it will take to
recover from a nuked oil spill. It is all too apparent that the time
has come for environmentalists to be recognized as power brokers on this
planet, spokespeople for the force and voice of nature. The days of
treating environmentalists as if they were "liberals" or supporters of
Al Gore or people who lacked the scientific wherewithal to know what
they are talking about is over. That hype is pure greed talking. A
well-educated environmental scientist is exactly that - a scientist.

- Advertisement -

Environmentalists (not on the pay roll of any oil company or any
special interests groups) need to sit at Global Summits and at meetings
at which major environmental policies are formed that affect the quality
of life locally, nationally, and globally. The argument of financial
impracticability no longer stands as valid given the Gulf oil crisis.
Nothing is more financially impracticable than a disaster that could
have and in fact, should have, been prevented. The argument that
environmentalists are imagining the potential harm of off shore drilling
or, say, global warming -- that, too, is off that table. The offshore
drilling catastrophe has now happened, suggesting that the warnings of
environmentalists are not laden with emotional hysteria. They are the
result of research and a bit of wisdom. With any luck, we might be able
to prevent a global warming catastrophe.

And if any politicians can't handle warming up to Mother Nature as a
type of "living" force worth protecting, then they should simply tell
themselves that becoming an environmentalist is likely to improve their
chances of getting re-elected these days. That should make even the
most hard-core anti-environmentalist among them a treehugger.